


A Void of Knowledge

by VSSAKJ



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Dishonored 2 Spoilers, Gen, Low Chaos (Dishonored), Trick or Treat: Trick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 15:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VSSAKJ/pseuds/VSSAKJ
Summary: Prior to his expulsion from the Academy of Natural Philosophy, it is rumored that Kirin Jindosh made a functioning version of the Heart that operated for exactly 13 minutes before turning to ash.





	A Void of Knowledge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kay_obsessive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kay_obsessive/gifts).



> Happy Trick or Treat! Your prompt about someone else picking up The Heart encouraged me to explore the rumour that Jindosh once fabricated a functioning Heart of his own.

It appears at his feet without a sound. Kirin Jindosh stops short and squats down to study the thing, without looking up to determine where it came from. It’s a fascinating object: metallic in one section and biological in another, with a seamless meld between them and weight that moves within it just _so_. Jindosh traces his fingers down one side—warm, beating—and hears a whisper in his ear.

_‘He took this job to pay off his brother’s debts, but he’s frightened of the Clockwork Soldiers.’_

“Is this…?” Jindosh murmurs to no one, clutching the object tighter and striding towards the nearest workbench. Beneath his feet and around him, there is no colour, but his amber eyes are fixed on the item in his hands, and he fails to note the bench and chair forming out of grey nothingness. He settles onto the chair and fixes the object in place beneath a scope, rolling it beneath his scrutiny and peering especially into its rhythmic movements. There is no ticking: there is no sound at all, and surely he should realise the world is quieter than usual.

He reaches, and pulls an artist’s impression of the Lord Protector towards him; he does not question where it’s appeared from. Holding the object in his hand, he directs its attention to the picture. For a length of time, he can hear only his own blood beating in his ears. Then:

_‘His name comes from crows, and it crowds around him like murder. Even the mask cannot keep him hidden.’_

“I knew it!” Jindosh coos with delight, clutching the object to his chest and stroking it like a precious thing. “It would have worked, you fools, if you had only let me continue my research. Tell me about the former Empress.”

There is no picture of Emily Kaldwin to hand, but dutifully, the whispers creep in.

_‘My sweet daughter. If only the shoes left behind had better fit her feet—if only there had been more time.’_

“And you _are_ the further former Empress, you beautiful thing!” Jindosh raises the Heart before him, exultant. “Those fools, all those fools, when they see what I have created—”

The Heart catches a glint from somewhere, sharpness and brightness reflecting into his own eye.

_‘A man, who thinks himself a genius, but who rarely listens. A man. A man, not a legend.’_

“I am a genius!” Jindosh protested, as the pain in his eye grew. Illogical, stupid: nothing had physically struck him, but a stabbing pain throbbed in his eyelid. He rubbed it with a fist; when he drew it back, there was a smear of red on his hand. The Heart fell from his grip as he pressed his hands into his eyes, his vision awash with pink. Heat coursed down his forearms, dripping to the ground and soaking through his trousers—when had he fallen to his knees?

_‘A weak, pathetic man.’_

“No! I know everything!”

 _‘Blood from the eyes!’_ The last whisper howled in his ear like a siren.

“Gracie, fetch the doctor. He’s having one of those fits again. Might need one of the injections this time.”

“I know everything!” Jindosh howled to the ceiling, his wrists and ankles bound firm by leather straps as the attendant nurse dabbed around his foaming mouth with a cloth. When she pressed the cloth to his eyes, it went away damp and clean—but Jindosh was sure he could still see red.


End file.
